Biography

Hui Chi Lee

Hui Chi Lee’s recent artistic work, which has gone through two distinct phases, has focused on exploring tensions and dynamics in human relations – both between individuals and between individuals and society. In the first series, titled “Moving Corpses and Walking Flesh,” she used the form and symbolism of mannequins to reveal what she sees as an overemphasis on materialistic pursuits by many of her fellow Taiwanese. Regardless of differences between nations and social structures, the disproportionate emphasis on consumerism and a lack of consideration given to spiritual dimensions have placed a heavy burden on contemporary life. Humans seem trapped in a never-ending spiral of materialistic desires and endless wants, and our craving to consume now turns on the subject to consume the spirit. Her mother was a fashion designer and growing up in such an environment in a rapidly changing Taiwan made her sensitive to the mute qualities of mannequins. In the first series and continuing into the second series of drawings, she continues to use the inanimate and plastic quality of mannequins as a symbolic vehicle to raise issues about the conformity of consumer behaviors and the immobility these behaviors imposes on contemporary society.

The second series is titled “Lián; Liàn,” which are two Chinese homophones meaning “to connect ” and “to enchain.” This series of large-scale drawings explores the tensions and dynamics between how people are connected and how these connections themselves may also serve to enchain. In part, this series is a reflection on Taiwanese cultural traditions that can seem oppressive in contemporary society. She uses the human figure as an agent to prompt discourse on these conditions. She expresses interest in the obscure and anonymous quality of the human form, and she wants to guide the viewer to consider the subject matter in a critical, holistic manner. She uses color in the subject matter in a symbolic, metaphorical way. Red symbolizes both a warning and an awakening moment in life, and hair signifies the duration of a life span and time of which we are often hardly aware – an acknowledgement of the finitude of life but yet a vision of it as somehow endless.

Hui Chi Lee's Artwork: Calligraphy in Motion

High End Weekly

APRIL 2016

The big apple is a place where art meets culture, and no better places can this be truer than downtown Soho, the East Village, and of course, the Chelsea area. Back in March, we visited FitzGerald Fine Arts (a Soho gallery which showcases contemporary Chinese porcelain and ink painting), and had the opportunity to meet Taiwanese artist Hui Chi Lee. This was Ms. Lee’s first show in New York, where she presented a new body of hand drawn graphite pen and colored pencil works on paper, as well as a soaring site specific sculptural installation, entitled “Lian, Lian.’ The exhibit was filled with energy, and a modern spirit, which reflected her abstract paintings that can somehow be compared to “Calligraphy in Motion”. In part, her latest series is a true reflection on Taiwanese cultural traditions that can seem oppressive in contemporary society.

Hui Chi Lee's Abstract, Largescale Pen and Pencil Works

Hi-Fructose

APRIL 2016

Taiwanese artist Hui Chi Lee presents a peculiar image of the human figure. She crowds her drawings with masses of bodies lumped together and entangled in threads and strands of human hair. Full of energy, her images explore themes relating to materialism, human behaviors, and relationships in today’s society, made all the more dynamic when implemented in a larger than life scale. Working mainly in pen, graphite and colored pencil on paper, her choice to use non-traditional painting materials ties with her goal as an artist: simply to create imagery that will inspire a curiosity about the implications of her work.

Hui Chi Lee & "Lián; Liàn"

Supersonic Art

APRIL 2016

Drawings by Hiu Chi Lee which explore tensions and dynamics between how people are connected and how these connections themselves may also serve to enchain. In part, this series is a reflection on Taiwanese cultural traditions that can seem oppressive in contemporary society.

Contemporary Artist Hui Chi Lee Debuts Solo New York Exhibit

Digital Journal

MARCH 2016

Contemporary artist Hui Chi Lee possesses an impressive exhibition record around the United States and the globe. She joins FitzGerald Fine Arts for her very first New York showcase of a new body of hand-drawn graphite pen and colored pencil works on paper, as well as a soaring site specific sculptural installation, entitled 'Lian : Lian.' Her abstract, large scale contemporary works will be on exhibit at FitzGerald Fine Arts gallery on Wooster Street in New York with a dedicated reception beginning at 6:00PM on March 31st.

FitzGerald Fine arts Debuts the Work of Hui Chi Lee

Digital Journal

DECEMBER 2015

In a year where female artists are being celebrated in an unprecedented number of exhibits throughout the course of Art Basel Miami Beach, FitzGerald Fine Arts is pleased to announce the very first exhibit of illustrious Taiwanese artist Hui Chi Lee at SCOPE Miami.